Through case studies of collectors, patrons, and agents who redefined collecting and the art market, this volume illuminates how the changing status of the artist, rise of connoisseurship, role of intermediaries and new patterns of consumption established models for collecting and display that resemble those still practiced today. The book presents new research by recognized scholars who examine the motivations of collectors and agents, emphasizing how their collecting, patronage and advocacy could require support of artists whose reputations were not fully established. Together, the essays invite consideration of works that are familiar in art-historical terms but less so as markers of the socio-economic shifts of a particular cultural moment.
This book evolved from a symposium “When Michelangelo was Modern: The Art Market and Collecting in Italy, 1450–1650,” organized by the Center for the History of Collecting, that was held at The Frick Collection on April 12 and 13, 2019. Both the book and the symposium were made possible through the generous support of the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.
The book is published in association with The Frick Collection.
Inge Reist (Ph. D. Columbia University 1984) was the Founding Director of the Center for the History of Collecting, The Frick Collection. Her edited and authored publications focus on Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art and the History of Art Collecting.
" ... the book offers a wealth of new research valuable for scholars of the early modern period."
W. E. Wallace, Washington University in
Choice Connect
List of Figures Contributors
Introduction: Shaping the Splendor of Italian Renaissance Art through Collecting and Patronage Inge Reist
1
Merchant-Banker, Diplomat, Courtier or Agent? Intermediaries and Collecting Art in the Renaissance Courts Leah R. Clark
2
Birth in Venice: The Origins of Art Collecting in the Serenissima Frederick Ilchman
3
Courtesans as Collectors and Tastemakers in Renaissance Italy Chriscinda Henry
4
Fractured Politics, Seamless Art: Family Patronage in Bologna at the Turn of the Cinquecento Saida Bondini
5
“Our Insatiable Desire for All Things Antique”: Isabella d’Este as Patron and Collector Stephen K. Scher
6
Cleaning Out the Workshop: How Preparatory Drawings Became Collector’s Treasure in Renaissance and Baroque Italy John Marciari
7
Modern Michelangelos? Copies, Fakes, and New Economies of Taste in the Early Seicento Hannah Joy Friedman
8
Trading Caravaggio: Giovan Angelo Altemp, Prospero Orsi, and the Roman Art Market of Caravaggesque Painting Fausto Nicolai
9
From the Art Market to St. Peter’s: The Cases of Nicolas Poussin and Valentin de Boulogne Patrizia Cavazzini
10
Artists as Critics, and Critics as Artists: Collaboration and Inclination in Giulio Mancini’s Taste Formation Frances Gage
Beyond its relevance to academic and curatorial audiences, this book will appeal to members of the general public interested in the relevance of art collecting to European and American cultural history.